Chapter Text
Among all the deities of heaven, there was only one who could be called the Sweeping General.
According to older legends, there once was an ancient kingdom in the central plains called the Kingdom of Xianle. It was a beautiful and prosperous kingdom, overflowing with luxurious riches — famous for its beauties, music, literature, gold, and gems.
Hidden up in their palaces, however, perhaps in one of their more rundown rooms, hid the personal attendant of Xianle’s crown prince.
There was nothing special about the crown prince’s servant. After all, he was born from the slums, shoved mercilessly into the bottom of Xianle’s hierarchy from birth.
His mother had been a seamstress, freelancing in a nearby village; and his father had worked as a carpenter for a family of nobles. Given the little amount of money they were earning day by day, they couldn’t afford to live in luxury or comfort. They got by surviving on meagre rations of food and little clean water to drink. They were content with what little they had — a small home and a small, loving family to live in it.
However, the family’s little boy had always been a little... overly ambitious , one might call it.
Since he was younger, he only had one aspiration:
“I want to ascend!”
Having grown up in the slums, with no proper education or martial arts training, one might say having such a dream of ascending was too absurd, or simply too foolish. But the little boy paid no attention to the others’ comments, remaining adamant on practising cultivation and ascending, even if he had to do it himself.
True enough, this little boy had later ascended into the heavenly realm.
Now, he is known as the current martial god of the Southwest, General Xuan Zhen.
Among all the gods up in the heavenly realm, Xuan Zhen would be one of the only upper court gods that ascended despite their poor background. The other gods, when they were mortals, had privileges he wasn’t lucky enough to have — royalty and nobility. Their statuses made it easier to cultivate a strong foundation, and thus, ascend easily later on.
Xuan Zhen never found this hierarchy quite fair, but it wasn’t like he could do much about it. After all, he, himself, was still being suppressed by this very classist system. Where else could his sacred title of Sweeping General have arisen from?
The Sweeping General truly does have a questionable reputation if one thinks about it. His worshippers call him “kind and generous,” while his heavenly colleagues call him “cold and lonesome.” This sharp contrast would make one think they were two completely different people! But who could say for sure whose judgement was right? With Xuan Zhen keeping to himself all day, who knows if he is a kind gentleman or an obnoxious bastard?
The worshippers of Xuan Zhen, for one, believe he is the most selfless god out there. They always boast about Xuan Zhen’s great deeds, sharing his stories as a way of spreading his influence.
But what stories could they possibly be telling about the great General Xuan Zhen?
Well, there are three famous tales regarding the god of the Southwest.
~
The first tale took place when he was seventeen years old — when the grand Shangyuan Heavenly Ceremonial Procession took place in the Kingdom of Xianle.
It was a divine ceremony. Colourful lights were hung up at every street corner; vibrant ribbons and flags fluttered about in the wind. The royals and nobles stood atop a high platform chatting in merriment, and down below, both sides of the streets were filled to the brim with Xianle citizens.
They all watched as the glorious royal warriors, adorned in golden armour, opened the paths; while a group of elegant maidens danced gracefully, scattering flower petals as they went.
As soon as the golden grand stage came into view, all of the Xianle citizens — children and adults alike — immediately turned their heads to look, completely captivated by the majestical sight.
The Heavenly Ceremonial Procession was a play that consisted of two main characters — the God-Pleasing Warrior, who would subdue a powerful demon, and the demon himself.
Both roles must be played extremely skillfully, hence the selection criteria for their performers being exceedingly strict. To play the God-Pleasing Warrior is to be considered the greatest honour — but the same couldn’t be said for the one to play the demon.
So who else could’ve played the demon in this tale? None other than General Xuan Zhen.
Battling with His Highness, who played the God-Pleasing Warrior, Xuan Zhen was already bound to lose. Not only because His Highness was stronger than Xuan Zhen was, but because the play had been scripted that way. Their fates had already been sealed before the battle even started. The God-Pleasing Warrior would win. The demon would lose. It was that simple.
Xuan Zhen’s worshippers used this tale to recount their god’s humble beginnings, as well as the resilience he must have wielded to have “rewritten his own script,” forging his own destiny of ascension against all the odds.
~
The second tale takes place a few years after General Xuan Zhen had ascended.
According to old myths, there was a Wrath terrorising a village in the North. The homeless children in the village were going missing, and the beggars in the village were slaughtered; their bodies left hanging on the doors of the nobles’ houses. The nobles, more disturbed by the smell of the rotting corpses than the actual victims, started to pray to their god of the North, General Luo Ye, to deal with the Wrath.
Unfortunately, Luo Ye was too caught up with other urgent prayers, and didn’t manage to check out this issue personally. Instead, he sent his deputy officials down to the mortal realm to take down the ghost and return peace to the village.
However, by the time Luo Ye’s deputy officials had reached the village that evening, they were appalled to be greeted with the sight of Xuan Zhen delivering the final blow to the Wrath.
Suddenly, many vibrant, iridescent orbs burst out from the ghost’s distorting form, much like a dam of water breaking loose, filling the entire area around Xuan Zhen. They surrounded him, hovering above the ground like sky lanterns set alight, gently floating about him, dimming and brightening as though trying to tell him something.
Xuan Zhen did not smile, but his tone was gentle.
“Let me rest you.”
Later that night, when the deputy officials returned to their palace, they could only tell Luo Ye of the majestical sight they witnessed.
“Xuan Zhen rested all the spirits!” they said, “Xuan Zhen played the zither and rested them all!”
But this caused a huge commotion in the heavens; many heavenly officials started gossiping about the matter, and soon came to the conclusion that Xuan Zhen was trying to take over Luo Ye’s territory by taking over his missions.
“How daring Xuan Zhen is! He just ascended, and he’s already trying to gain power over the other martial gods!” they said.
“Xuan Zhen is too selfish! Doesn’t he know basic decency?” they said.
“What more could be expected from a servant?” they said.
Xuan Zhen himself, however, didn’t comment on the issue. Instead, he buried himself with his own piles of prayers and missions, waiting for the commotion to die down over time instead.
This controversy somehow managed to stir up rumours down in the mortal realm. Many mortals believed Xuan Zhen did it to gain popularity and fame in Luo Ye’s territory, expanding his base of followers in another god’s region.
However, Xuan Zhen’s worshippers strongly believed that their god killed the Wrath and rested the spirits out of pure sincerity and his desire to help.
But only a few days later did everyone find out that Xuan Zhen had actually left the rotting corpses hanging on the nobles’ doors.
~
The third tale is about General Xuan Zhen’s ascension.
There are numerous ways one could ascend — through pure martial might, a cultivation method, or by performing an extraordinary deed. One could even ascend through a combination of multiple.
Xuan Zhen, for example, had ascended through a combination of the latter two methods.
So, how exactly did he ascend?
As legends would have it, Xuan Zhen had ascended while he was still a junior official under a renowned medicinal master.
It was late that night when he had descended from the heavenly realm after his deputy duties were complete. Carrying his wooden zither and his saber, he made his way back to the old remnants of Xianle.
Taking the zither off his back, he settled down in the central area of the kingdom’s ruins and started to glide his fingers gracefully over the strings.
A soft tune followed the movement of his fingertips; Xuan Zhen carefully plucked the strings — slowly increasing the melody’s speed and volume as he played. Then, when he had gathered enough momentum and spiritual power, he pushed forward on the strings and shot out a powerful wave of spiritual energy, instantly causing a nearby pile of rubble to explode.
But, as the fragments of the stones broke apart, many spirits suddenly shot up from all directions, rushing straight towards him, clearly aggravated by the destruction he caused.
Turns out, these were resentful spirits of the Xianle kingdom! They must have been upset at this intruder who had trespassed onto their land, and then had the audacity to continue damaging the already destroyed remnants of their kingdom.
Xuan Zhen quickly stood up from behind his zither, seemingly preparing to fight. Readying himself in a defensive stance, he was going to face all the spirits head on when —
Eh? Why did the spirits suddenly stop?
Apparently, there were hidden talismans drawn on the ground!
As the drawings on the floor surrounding them lit up almost magically, Xuan Zhen quickly crouched back down to begin another melody on his zither. This melody was even softer — gentle in a way the first one wasn’t. It sounded more like a trance, enchanting its listeners. To soothe and to comfort, rather than agitate.
The more Xuan Zhen played, the less the resentful spirits moved about. Instead, they seemed to calm down, becoming placid as Xuan Zhen’s melody continued.
Much like a lullaby slowly lulling babies to sleep, the resentful spirits gradually stopped attempting to attack. Xuan Zhen took this as an opportunity to stop playing. Getting up from his position behind the zither, he cautiously walked closer to the spirits surrounding him and, as he reached an arm’s distance away from them, he bowed deeply and kneeled down on both of his knees.
“I am sorry,” he said, using Xianle’s dialect. This caught all of the spirits’ attention.
“All of you were innocent. None of you deserved any of this,” Xuan Zhen said, trying to comfort them. “Let me help you?”
Snapping his fingers, the talisman drawings on the floor snapped apart all at once. All the Xianle spirits were released, immediately flocking towards Xuan Zhen like little children. They surrounded him once more, this time without any malicious intent. Xuan Zhen slowly guided them back to his zither, and after playing for another shichen , all the spirits had finally begun dissipating.
*shichen: two hours
And just as the last spirit was finally put to rest, Xuan Zhen had finally ascended.
*Luo Ye (落叶) means fallen leaf